Somewhere Out There
by FuminshoShojo
Summary: A prequel to the series featuring the relationship between Misato and Kaji during their college years. A bit WAFFy and will probably end up being a tear-jerker as well. PG-13 for adult related themes and language, but nothing graphic *i.e. no boobies =P *
1. Preface

AN: Hey there! Thanks for taking interest in my little fan fiction. This is the first fic I've ever posted, so hopefully it will be a good one. I should probably explain a bit. This is a love story between Misato and Kaji that takes place before the actual series begins. I was inspired by the Our Lady Peace song Somewhere Out There which is featured as a sort of preface. This isn't a song fic though, so don't get the wrong idea. Anyway, if you haven't heard the song or any Our Lady Peace songs for that matter, you should go out and buy one of their cd's right now, because they're a great band. And Somewhere Out There is a truly beautiful song. Please enjoy my fic and read and review and all that good stuff. Constructive criticism is welcome, especially if I've gone OOC. I'm most worried about that =P

Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or the characters in it. They're both copyright Gainax and Anno Hideaki. I also don't own Somewhere Out There which is copyright Our Lady Peace and Columbia Records. These things are being used for entertainment purposes and not for my personal benefit, so don't sue me; I don't have any money, and it would just be a waste of your time. Just think of this story as an advertisement...

Preface: I hate this song...

(Somewhere Out There, Our Lady Peace)

Last time i talked to you

You were lonely and out of place

You were looking down on me

Lost out in space

We laid underneath the stars

Strung out and feeling brave

I watched the red orange glow

I watched you float away

Down here in the atmosphere

Garbage and city lights

You've gone to save your tired soul

You've gone to save our lives

I turned on the radio

To find you in satellite

I'm waiting for this sky to fall

I'm waiting for a sign

All we are

Is all so far

You're falling back to me

You're a star that i can see

I know you're out there

Somewhere out there

Hope you remember me

When you're home sick

And need a change

I miss your purple hair

I miss the way you taste

I know you'll come back someday

On a bed of nails i'll wait

I'm praying that you don't burn out

Or fade away

You're falling out of reach

Defying gravity

I know you're out there

Somewhere out there

You're falling back to me

You're a star that i can see

I know you're out there

You're falling out of reach

Defying gravity

I know you're out there

Somewhere out there

You're falling back to me

You're a star that i can see

I know you're out there

Somewhere out there

You're falling out of reach

Defying gravity

You're falling back to me

I know

I know

You're falling out of reach

I know

A warm tear trickled down Misato's flushed cheek and dripped and splashed into a little puddle that had formed at the end of a curling strand of her soft purple hair. Her lips quivered, and she clamped her eyes shut to try to prevent more tears from following the previous. It didn't help. Soon her eyelashes were glazed over with salty tears, and her shoulders began to shake with her quiet sobs. She cried for a few minutes until her sadness turned aggressive . She took a deep breath as she lifted her leg and kicked her radio into the nearby wall. The sudden fierce swing of her leg caused the entire lower half of her body to swing over and her upped half followed until she lay on her stomach crying even more loudly and violently than before.

Why did they have to play that damn song? She wondered. She hated hearing that song because it reminded her of him. And at that moment he was the last thing she wanted to think about, even though for the past week he was the only thing she'd allowed herself to think about. She sighed brashly and forced herself to take deep, ragged breaths. Within minutes her thunderous sobs had quieted, and she lifted her head so she could stare at her wall for a while. Unfortunately, her eyes landed on a picture, a picture full of nostalgia. It was a picture of Kaji, Ritsuko, and herself from their college days. It was probably the one thing in her room that she really, really didn't want to look at, so of course, it was the only thing she could see. She began crying again. So loud and so hard that within mere moments her sobs had turned into the crying equivalent of dry heaves, which she'd experienced plenty of times in her life. She sobbed loudly for at least an hour before she had exhausted herself and her sobs turned into whimpers and finally into sniffles. She dug her face until her tear-soaked pillow and let her exhaustion over-take her. She accepted the happy memories that came to her in her dreams that night.

...

AN: Ok, that was really short, but it is just a preface. Chapter One will be longer. Although, I'm not really planning on making this a very long story anyway: four or five chapters maybe. It will depend on how interested I get in writing it :) Anyway, tell me what you thought and keep your eyes open for Chapter One. Ciao! *mmm oreos....*


	2. Misato Meets Kaji

AN: Ok I didn't update this for a long time because I didn't realize that anyone had reviewed until just yesterday, so I finished the first chapter. This chapter picks up at the end of Misato and Ritsuko's third year of college. Enjoy:  
  
Chapter One: Misato the Drunkard Meets Kaji the Smoking Man  
  
Ritsuko watched in pure disgust and Misato downed her third beer. They'd only been in the bar for ten minutes and already the purple haired girl sitting across from her was buzzing. "Misato, do you mind? People are beginning to stare."  
  
"Aww, Ritsy-poo! Aren't you going to drink your beer?" Misato asked, propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands. Her elbows began to slip, but she caught herself.  
  
"No, it taste like cat pee." Ritsuko pushed the sweating can away from her, and Misato quickly grabbed it in one swift motion.  
  
"And I bet you'd know what cat pee taste like, Cat Lady." She chugged the beer quickly and set the empty can next to the other three.  
  
"I hope you don't plan on being here long enough to make a pyramid." Ritsuko shifted in her seat as she reached down to the floor and felt for her purse. She pulled the leather bag to the table and dug around for a pack of cigarettes. Misato suddenly became entranced by the blonde's movements and watched as she lightly tapped the bottom of the pack and then revealed one of the slender sticks of tobacco from the top. Misato licked her lips and leaned forward. Ritsuko placed the cigarette in a small part between her lips and exposed a small lighter with which she lit the cigarette. Smoke curled from the end and up to the ceiling. Misato watched these actions as though they were poetry.  
  
"Ritsuko?" She suddenly whispered, breaking Ritsuko's deep concentration of smoking. Ritsuko looked over to the other girl with a questioning look. "May I have one?" Misato asked innocently with a sweet and almost childish smile across her face. Ritsuko held out her pack and Misato, trying to imitate the beauty she'd just seen, pulled one from the pack and lit it. She sucked in and sat for a moment, trying to hold the smoke in her lungs. Suddenly she began coughing feverishly and her eyes began to water.  
  
"I'll get you a drink," Ritsuko suggested, trying not to laugh in the poor girl's face. She raised her hand to call a waiter over, but before she could call out "Waiter" a man was next to her with a tray which had a beer and a martini on it. The man smiled at her and put the beer in front of Misato, who quickly inhaled the contents.  
  
"Keep these coming," She mumbled, motioning to the line of empty cans. The waiter nodded and set the martini in front of Ritsuko.  
  
"The compliments of the gentleman at the bar," The waiter replied to Ritsuko's confused look and gestured to a smoking man with a beer in his hand. He was tall with brown hair, a disheveled button-up shirt and a stubble of a beard.  
  
Ritsuko grunted at his appearance and looked back to Misato with the intentions of tearing the poor man apart. She stopped, however, at the look in Misato's eyes.  
  
"Ooh! He's cute! I'm gonna call him over here!" She exclaimed, and before Ritsuko could protest Misato had put her cigarette filled hand in the air and waved over the man.  
  
"Oh, Misato!" Ritsuko whined.  
  
"What?!? He's cute!" Misato whispered as the man sat down at their table.  
  
"Hello, beautifuls," He growled in a low raspy voice.  
  
Ritsuko grunted again at the lame line and looked away.  
  
"Hi," Misato said, slipping her hand across the table to shake the man's hand. "My name's Katsuragi Misato. What's yours?"  
  
"Kaji Ryouji." Kaji smiled.  
  
Ritsuko grunted again. Misato sighed and kicked her friend's shin under the table. "Ow!" Ritsuko exclaimed and gave Misato a piercing, shocked glare.  
  
"My rude friend is Akagi Ritsuko." Misato smiled at Ritsuko in a way that implied that she wanted Ritsuko to smile at Kaji.   
  
Ritsuko didn't. Instead she stood and replied, "It was nice meeting you, but if you two don't mind, I have to be off. We have exams next week, don't forget, Misato. I'm going back to the dorm to study." And with that she was gone.  
  
Misato leaned forward on the table and smiled at Kaji again. "I'm sorry about that. My friend is very picky when it comes to men."  
  
"That's quite alright. You're the one I was interested in anyway." Kaji gave her a sly look and Misato giggled childishly. "You said your name was Katsuragi right? As in the Katsuragi expedition that went to Alaska right before the asteroid hit?"  
  
Misato fidgeted with the cigarette in her hand and motioned for another drink to be brought to her table. "Um, yes, that's exactly right." She coughed nervously. "I don't want to sound rude or anything, but it's sort of a touchy subject. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience."  
  
Kaji smiled confidently. "That's quite alright. I didn't mean to be nosy. Let's change the subject. You're in college right?"  
  
"Yes, my third year just ended."  
  
"What are you planning to do afterwards?"  
  
"You know, I don't really know. People keep asking and I don't know what to say. I thought about maybe working for the government, and follow in my father's footsteps or something. What about you, are you in college?"  
  
"Not anymore, I just graduated. And to be honest with you, I don't know what to do now."  
  
"Well, what was you're major?"  
  
"German literature."  
  
Misato sat back in her seat quite shocked. "German literature? What for?"  
  
"I don't know. I like Germany." Kaji smiled again and took a sip of his drink. "Misato, would you like to play a drinking game?"  
  
Misato's ears perked up at the thought of getting extremely drunk and she nodded her head vigorously.   
  
Misato and Kaji spend the next two hours playing a very foolish and very revealing game of have you ever.  
  
Misato slammed her shot glass on the table. "Okkkie, that one was ob-vious." She slurred. "But…I still can't believe juu wet jur pants in school when juu were seven."  
  
Kaji laughed and tried to put his glass on the table, but it falls over and rolls off instead.   
  
The waiter walks over and pries a bottle of liquor from Misato's hands. "I think it's time you two went home. It's pretty late, and you're pretty drunk."  
  
"You are soooo right. Kasji, I am soo drunk." Misato exclaimed slapping Kaji on the shoulder. "I dun think I will find my way home. Can I come to your house?"  
  
Kaji grinned and held his head up by cupping his chin in his left hand. "I would like that, Misato-dear, but your friend Ritsuko will worry about you."  
  
Misato tried to make a tutting nose with her mouth but failed miserably and instead spit all over her own hand. "Ew," She said as she wiped off the spit. "That Ritsuko worries about ev'ything."  
  
"Still, I should be a gentleman and take you home." He stood and held out his hand for her. She reached up and put her hand in his, but formed no grip, so when he pulled her to her feet she almost fell. "Whoa" Kaji said reaching his arms around Misato's waist and pulling her towards him. "I must say I'm impressed. Even though you're a slobbering, slurring, drunk right now, you really can hold your liquor." His compliment was met by a soft a snore, and he looked down to see that Misato had fallen asleep with her arms around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. Kaji chuckled, "How am I going to figure out where you live?" He whispered. He reached down and pulled her purse towards him and began digging through it until he found her wallet. He pulled out her ID and read it silently. "We went to the same college." He commented looking at the sleeping drunk girl. "I can't believe I never saw a beautiful woman like you." He returned her things to her purse, scooped her up in his arms, and left the bar.  
  
Upon reaching the dorm, Misato jerked and woke to find herself cradled in Kaji's arms. "What happened?" She murmured.  
  
"You fell asleep at the bar. I brought you home." He turned the doorknob to find that the door had been unlocked, and he carried Misato to the empty bed. He smiled down at her and she curled up under the blankets.   
  
"I would ask you to stay if I didn't think Ritsuko would lecture me in the morning." Misato whispered even though her eyes were closed and she appeared asleep.  
  
"That's quite alright. My room is in the dorm next to this."  
  
Misato's eyebrows wrinkled, but she didn't comment on his statement. "You can come over tomorrow if you want to."  
  
"That sounds nice." He smiled again, kissed her on her forehead, and left the room quietly.  
  
-FIN-  
  
AN: Yay! Misato and Kaji WAFF! Well...I don't have anything to say, so please review! Ciao! 


End file.
